[BUG] file.symlink does not delete link path with fo... | saltstack/salt

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Description
Creating a symlink over an existing directory with file.symlink and force: True worked fine for years before. But since Salt 3006, it does not.

Steps to Reproduce the behavior

Create a Salt State to create a symlink in place of an existing directory, e.g.

/var/cache/tomcat/temp:
  file.symlink:
    - target: /opt/temp
    - force: True
    - watch_in:
      - service: tomcat
    - require:
      - pkg: tomcat

Expected behavior
Salt should first remove the file/directory/etc. (here: /var/cache/tomcat/temp), then replace it with the symlink, as stated in the documentation.

Screenshots

----------
          ID: /var/cache/tomcat/temp
    Function: file.symlink
      Result: False
     Comment: Unable to create new symlink /var/cache/tomcat/temp -> /opt/temp: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/var/cache/tomcat/temp'
     Started: 09:52:29.518867
    Duration: 1.868 ms
     Changes:

Versions Report

salt --versions-report

(Provided by running salt --versions-report. Please also mention any differences in master/minion versions.)

# salt-minion --versions-report
Salt Version:
          Salt: 3006.4

Python Version:
        Python: 3.10.13 (main, Oct  4 2023, 21:54:22) [GCC 11.2.0]

Dependency Versions:
          cffi: 1.14.6
      cherrypy: 18.6.1
      dateutil: 2.8.1
     docker-py: Not Installed
         gitdb: Not Installed
     gitpython: Not Installed
        Jinja2: 3.1.2
       libgit2: Not Installed
  looseversion: 1.0.2
      M2Crypto: Not Installed
          Mako: Not Installed
       msgpack: 1.0.2
  msgpack-pure: Not Installed
  mysql-python: Not Installed
     packaging: 22.0
     pycparser: 2.21
      pycrypto: Not Installed
  pycryptodome: 3.9.8
        pygit2: Not Installed
  python-gnupg: 0.4.8
        PyYAML: 6.0.1
         PyZMQ: 23.2.0
        relenv: 0.13.12
         smmap: Not Installed
       timelib: 0.2.4
       Tornado: 4.5.3
           ZMQ: 4.3.4

System Versions:
          dist: centos 7.9.2009 Core
        locale: utf-8
       machine: x86_64
       release: 3.10.0-1160.76.1.el7.x86_64
        system: Linux
       version: CentOS Linux 7.9.2009 Core```
</details>

**Additional context**

#64726 had possibly the same or similar issue, but OP closed it for another reason.

Start with Salt's file.symlink state described in the reproduction and reproduce the failure using an existing directory with force: True. Done means the existing path is removed and replaced by the requested symlink, with regression coverage for this behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

[BUG] file.symlink does not delete link path with force: true anymore

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